Articles

For 6 years the incompetent ULP regime leadership has struggled and failed miserably to move SVG's economy forward. In 2007, PM Gonsalves stated 'it is difficult to live without grants'.

SVG Green party has always perceived PM Gonsalves as a disappointing and weak leader. He has consistently shown a high propensity to use begging, borrowing and heavy taxation as the main components for managing SVG's fragile economy. The implication of this poor management of SVG's economy has been the fuelling of violent crime, high unemployment, increased poverty and a growing despondency within SVG.

The main weaknesses of the ULP regime's leadership are the lack of innovation, no capacity to implement economic projects successfully and continuous focus on the need for mass tourism. Historically, mass tourism in the Caribbean is a big failure, in that, Caribbean countries that used mass tourism as the main engine of their economy are listed amongst the top 15 most indebted countries in the world. Mass tourism is an illusionary economic component, as money comes in at one end, but has a heavy financial leakage at the other end to the foreign owners of the tourism infrastructure. Mass tourism will only create low paid, insecure, seasonal jobs that are highly vulnerable to redundancies overnight due to external global influence. Citizens of SVG deserve better.

The ULP regime is tinkling with SVG's economy and just getting in to greater debt in the process. They tinkle here, tinkle there, make minor adjustments to this, that and the other, but they still cannot get to the core economics to sustainably develop SVG's economy. Agriculture has fallen to its lowest point under the ULP regime and is falling further without any effective ULP regime policies to stem the devastation.

2008 and beyond is a bleak prospect for SVG if the ULP regime stays in government. People can only expect harder times, greater poverty, a substantial increase in the cost of living, higher taxes overall, and higher prices for water and electricity. To date, the weak ULP regime has not managed to stem the flow of gun crime and other violent crime. For their 6 years in office they seem to have forgotten the unemployed. Even people with pay increases and reduced income tax are not better off generally at all, because the cost of living is rising rapidly.

SVG Green party has had a very successful 2007. We have defeated the ULP regime in a landmark victory in the famous Sedition case. Our predictions of the ULP regime's decline and the rise in the cost of living have been on target. Meanwhile SVG Green party has gained much support and recognition, at home and abroad. We look forward to SVG getting greener in 2008 and beyond. Green economics is the future: it is better for young people, better for old people, better for the poor, better for the unemployed, better for business and better for the long term sustainable future of SVG.

In short, the ULP regime has outstayed its welcome. Incompetent ULP regime - you're in the way of everyone's route to prosperity!